Enough
by AndAllThatMishigas
Summary: Jed and Abbey's first fight.


Author's Note: Shoutout to TSwift for once again inspiring me to write Bartlet fics with her songs. This one came from "This Love" and "State of Grace."

 **Enough**

Abbey laughed, throwing her head back, letting her hair blow in the breeze behind her. "Allen, you are absolutely ridiculous." She put her hand on his arm as she caught her breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a wave. She turned and waved back happily. "Oh Allen, you've met my boyfriend, Jed, right?"

The tall football player smirked and shook Jed's hand. "Hi, I'm Allen Forrester."

"Jed Bartlet. Nice to meet you." Jed tried to grasp the man's hand a little tighter than he normally would. It was ineffective. He instead turned and put his arm around Abbey's waist. "We'd better go if we don't want to be late," he told her.

She gave him a strange look. "Alright. Well, Allen, I'll see you next week, alright?" And with that, Jed whisked her away. "What are you doing? We aren't doing anything we'd be late to, are we?" she asked with confusion.

"I just wanted to get away from that guy. I don't like how he was looking at you. And I especially don't like how giggly you were getting."

Her jaw dropped. "You aren't serious."

"Of course I'm serious," he replied angrily.

"Jed, I'm tutoring him in biology! He's a freshman!"

"He's still on the football team, and you're still a beautiful girl and too nice for your own good."

Abbey officially moved from being annoyed to being full-on angry. "Jed, we have been dating for almost four months. I have no interest in any other man. There is no reason me talking to another guy should bother you!"

"Don't you know how disrespectful you're being to me and to our relationship when you're off talking and joking and…and…touching other men!" He was getting frazzled, but he didn't care. He was upset, and what was worse, she didn't see why.

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard! I'm not going to cease all contact with men just because I have a boyfriend! Ron never got like this when you and I were friends," she pointed out.

"Yeah, and just look what happened!"

She knew he had a point, but it was irrelevant. "This is different! You're being insane. Do you really trust me so little? Are you really that insecure?"

"I can't believe you'd say that!"

"You know what? I don't feel like going to dinner with you. I'm going home. You are not invited to join me. I've had enough of this," she told him forcefully before turning on her heel and storming off toward her apartment.

Jed stood there, stunned. Had she just broke up with him?

Abbey entered her apartment and slammed the door behind her. She flopped onto the couch and threw a book across the room. Maybe if she stayed angry, she could keep from crying.

Millie came out of her room cautiously. "Abbey?"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you," she muttered.

"What happened? I thought you and Jed were having dinner."

"I was talking to Allen Forrester after our tutoring session and introduced him to Jed, and then he got possessive and jealous and frankly, it was a little disgusting. So I left."

Millie sat down on the arm of the sofa. "So you broke up?"

"What? Of course not. I'm never breaking up with him. But he was just being so annoying! How does he not see that I'd never do anything to jeopardize our relationship? Me talking to other men has nothing to do with Jed!"

"Obviously he doesn't see it that way. After all, you were friends with him while Ron was your boyfriend, and you ended up dumping the boyfriend and traded in your friend to be your new boyfriend."

Abbey glared at her. "Yeah, he said that. But that's not what happened! I broke up with my boyfriend because I realized I was in love with my friend," she explained.

"Well maybe Jed doesn't know that. And he's never had a serious girlfriend before, so maybe he just doesn't know how to deal with things. Add that to the fact that you've had lots of boyfriends, which I think Jed is aware of, and you're left with a guy who doesn't know how to be confident in a relationship," Millie suggested.

Abbey sighed. "I'll give him some time to cool off and realize what an idiot he was being. I'll explain the next time he calls."

But Jed didn't call. For a whole week, Abbey hadn't heard anything from her boyfriend. She didn't see him, and he hadn't made any recognizable attempt to contact her.

Millie was exhausted by Abbey moping around the apartment. "Why don't you just call him?" she finally suggested.

"No, I can't do that."

"And why not?" Millie challenged.

"Because I have to let him go so he can come back to me on his own. If he cares about me as much as I think he does, he'll call." Despite how much she missed him, she clung to the hopeful confidence that he would come back. She only hoped that her icy behavior hadn't deterred him for good.

For a week, Jed was absolutely miserable. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been to ruin the best thing he'd ever had. He knew better than to try to talk Abbey out of something after she'd made up her mind. But secretly, he wished he could beg her to take him back.

At the end of the week, he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take seven little days without her. Jed knew he'd fallen hopelessly in love with her. He'd know that before, but this was a painful confirmation. He absolutely needed her in his life. Not even praying in the campus chapel, something that had always brought him comfort, had helped. He floated through his days in a dim fog, lacking the divine brightness of her presence. If nothing else, he knew he had to talk to her.

That evening, when he knew she was home from class, Jed went to Abbey's apartment. Millie answered the door.

"Can I talk to Abbey, please?" he asked.

Millie narrowed her eyes at him. "I know what you said to her. And you are a supreme idiot."

"Yes, I know. Can you ask her to come out here, please?" he asked again.

She closed the door, and a moment later, Abbey came outside. "It's been a week," she said simply.

"I know. I couldn't even get through a week," he admitted.

Abbey looked at him, slightly confused. She'd meant that it had taken him a week, seven long days, to talk to her after their fight. What was he talking about?

Before she could say anything, Jed couldn't help but reach out and tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "You're so beautiful," he said, speaking in barely over a whisper.

She felt her heart grow warm. But she was reminded of what he'd said to her, and she frowned. "Why did you come here, Jed?" she asked, hoping to prompt his apology so she could just kiss him and move on from this. She'd missed him far too much.

"I just wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have gotten angry. I ruined the saving grace of my life because I couldn't keep my mouth shut." He let out a deep breath and took her hands in his. They were smaller than his enormous ham-hands, but her strong fingers were not feminine and delicate; rather, they were powerful and always put to good use. She'd be a great surgeon with those hands one day. "Abbey, I know that when you really…care about someone, you have to put their happiness above your own. And I realize that I've lost the privilege of being with you, and I won't try to convince you otherwise, but I just wanted talk to you and have a proper goodb—"

"Hang on, what?" she interrupted. "Are you breaking up with me!?"

Jed looked utterly bewildered. "No, you broke up with me."

"No I didn't."

"You didn't?"

"No! I was just pissed at you, Jed! That was just a fight!"

"Oh. But you said you'd had enough."

"Of that conversation! I'd had enough fighting with you!" she clarified.

"So you don't want to break up?"

Abbey had to laugh a little. "Of course not!" She pulled him into a hug but pulled away at her realization, "Is this why you didn't call me for a week? You thought I broke up with you?"

"Well, if you didn't break up with me, why didn't you call for a week?"

"You were the one that needed to apologize," Abbey pointed out.

He sighed and buried his face in her hair, breathing in her scent. "I'm so sorry, honey. I should have just kept my mouth shut."

She shook her head. He still didn't get it. "You need to trust me, Jed. You need to trust that I never want to do anything to hurt you. And you need to trust that I'm not going to find anyone I like better than you. When you said those things, that me talking to other men was disrespectful, you made it sound like you own me and I'm not entitled to any life of my own outside our relationship. And _that_ is what made me mad."

Jed heard her words and the lightbulb clicked on in his mind. "I want you to have everything in the world that you want, no matter what."

"Well, you need to keep in mind that you are a big part of that. Nothing means anything if you aren't there to share it with me." Abbey stopped talking before she went too far. They hadn't been together for that long. Even though they each knew the other felt strongly, they hadn't reached the point of discussing love or marriage or a real future together. Abbey knew that's what she wanted, but if her conversation with another man sent Jed into a tailspin, he certainly wasn't ready for that discussion.

Jed kissed her cheek. "I adore you, and clearly you make me crazy. But I'll do my best to never doubt you in the future." And finally, he got to kiss her properly once more, feeling her soft, full lips move against his.

Just because Jed had known for the last six months—longer than they'd been an official couple—that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, he knew she had a history of dating men. She was probably still testing him out. He didn't want to box her in or prevent her from changing her mind somewhere down the line. Though this conversation had informed him that, for now at least, she wanted him. And that was enough.


End file.
